Two funds managed by mutual fund house Franklin Templeton acquired 8.49 per cent stake in fashion retailer Pantaloons Fashion & Retail Ltd, at Rs 165 a piece totaling to over Rs 143 crore. In a BSE filing, Pantaloons Fashion said Franklin Templeton has acquired 7,879,902 equity shares of the Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd (ABNL) company. Of the 7,879,902 equity shares, 4,784,239 shares were acquired by Franklin India High Growth Companies Fund and the rest 3,095,663 by Franklin India Prima Fund. Kishore Biyani of the Future Group had ceded control of the 65 store-strong retail network of Pantaloons Fashion & Retail to the Kumara Mangalam Birla led Aditya Birla Nuvo more than two years back. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, Pantaloons Fashion had posted net sales at Rs 450.51 crore, up 12.5 per cent over the same quarter of fiscal 2014. The fashion retailer also was able to reduce net loss to Rs 63.78 crore in the same quarter as against net loss of Rs 70.75 crore in the fourth quarter of its prior fiscal.
